JERUSALEM, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel announced on Sunday a 100-billion-shekel (27 billion U.S. dollars) rail project that will link its most northern and southern cities with metropolitan Tel Aviv.
The project was designed to connect Tel Aviv, Israel's financial hub in central Israel with the southernmost Red Sea resort city of Eilat and Kiryat Shmona, a northern city near the border with Lebanon, said the Transportation Ministry in a statement.
Under the project, the current railway infrastructure would be expanded by 300 km. In some parts of the network, fast trains will be operated, capable of reaching a speed of 250 km/h, the ministry said, adding the new network will become fully operational in 2035.
Speaking at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "every citizen in the country will be able to go to and from the center of the country, from anywhere in the state, in less than two hours."
He said that the planned network could be used to transport freight from Eilat to Mediterranean Sea ports. "We will also be able to link Israel by rail to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula," he said. "We are working on this as well," he added.
The rail plan is based on a concept that was first approved by the government in 2010 but gained limited advancements thus far. ■
